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  1. #1
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    Default Dawn Post Drill - part II

    Two and a half years ago I started a thread on my then recently acquired Dawn No.611 post drill. It's time for me to update the thread - but unfortunately threads over a certain age can't be revived. So here's a new thread, and a link to the old: https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...awn+Post+Drill

    Since last posting the drill has been on the back burner, but making a little progress here and there.

    The slot in the spindle has been machined square and a little wider (by a friend) and new wider half-washers made. The table has been machined flat, and a new table bolt made (the old one being bent). For the record, the bolt is 1/2" diameter and 4" long. The top 9/16" and the bottom 2" are threaded 1/2" BSW (12tpi).

    Oh, and it's now mounted on the wall in the room above our garage.

    Several months ago I acquired a 2nd (incomplete) Dawn 611. Seanz looked after it for me until I could pick it up - which happened last month.

    From that I have acquired a foot for the column/pillar, which I've de-rusted and painted...

    DoldfootHM.jpgDnewfootHM.jpg

    ...and a genuine Dawn flywheel, which I've also de-rusted and painted...

    DoldwfHM.jpgDnewfwHM.jpg

    The difference is minor, with the old Buffalo Forge No.611 flywheel being 12" dia., while the Dawn No.611 flywheel is slightly smaller at 11 3/8" diameter.

    Dflywheels.jpg Spot the difference: Buffalo Forge left; Dawn right.

    The drill is mounted on the wall using M12 coachbolts. I would have preferred to use imperial bolts, but they're getting as scarce as hens teeth. I found a bloke in the UK who has square metric nuts for sale - I ordered some and they arrived today. Not the real McCoy, but they look the part.

    SquarenutsHM.jpgDhexnutHM.jpgDsquarenutHM.jpg excuse the fuzzy photo .

    The nuts (and washers) are now being painted black. Just a few more jobs to do:
    - fit the pawl back on (currently residing on my Canadian Blower & Forge No.61);
    - make a new wooden handle for the crank;
    - modify the auto-feed lever to allow it to feed at different rates (refer page 1 of the older thread above).

    Cheers, Vann (who now has too many post drills, to match his too many planes, braces, eggbeaters, etc.)
    Gatherer of rusty planes tools...
    Proud member of the Wadkin Blockhead Club .

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  3. #2
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    Only thing wrong with those new nuts is their too new and shiney. A bit of paint as you say or oil blackening should be the go.
    …..Live a Quiet Life & Work with your Hands

  4. #3
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    Default

    A better link to the previous thread:
    https://www.woodworkforums.com/f163/dawn-post-drill-148288

    Cheers, Vann.
    Gatherer of rusty planes tools...
    Proud member of the Wadkin Blockhead Club .

  5. #4
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    Having done as much as I can on my Boynton & Plummer post drill, I'm back to the Dawn No.611.

    One thing I've been avoiding is making a new wooden handle for the crank. But time to bite the bullet...

    Pdawn3.jpg It looks a bit bare.

    I looked through my file of Dawn photos (mostly stolen from the internet) and, among others, came up with these...

    Pdawnsample1.jpg Pdawnsample2.jpg


    A bit of scaling and I decided the collar (LH end) is 1/2" wide and parallel. Greatest diameter is 1 1/4" (collar and bulb), smallest diameter 3/4" (neck and RH end). Total length 4 1/16".

    In my life I've turned about a total of two handles (and nothing else), so this was a bit daunting. No WIP photos, sorry. Here's the end product.

    Pdawn1.jpg I used a bit of scrap timber I thought was rimu, but it's not. I'll have to leave it to the experts, but I wonder if it's totara?

    Being too scared to remove the handle shaft from the crank arm (in case I stuffed it and the wooden handle during re-installation) I decided to split the handle. I read about gluing a piece of thin card between two pieces of timber in order to allow easy separation later, so I cut a piece of the scrap to rough size, then ripped it down the middle. I cut a groove in both halves, then glued them together with the card in between.

    When the glue was dry I bored the timber from both ends using the groove as a guide to (hopefully) ensure the drill didn't wander off-centre. I planed the corners until it was roughly octagonal. I then fitted the piece into my err.. wood-lathe. It's a cheap aluminium thing that uses an electric drill to power it. One thing I learned: when turning a split item, put a woodscrew in the waste portion near each end . Anyway, after I glued it back together, and finished turning it to size, I cut it to length and drilled the centre to the final size (10mm to fit a 3/8" shaft).

    I split the two halves and cleaned off the remaining card, but I needed to remove a little more from the bore to enable the two halves to meet around the shaft (done with chisel and sandpaper - and numerous trial fittings). I waxed the shaft and attempted to wax the bore without getting wax on the mating surfaces. I used an epoxy glue to glue the two halves. When dry, the join was sanded back and the whole thing waxed.

    Pdawn2.jpg Here you can see the glue line.

    I'm not 100% happy with the finished item, but it will do for the foreseeable future.

    At least it looks better than someone else's replacement handle on my Silver No.14 post drill...

    Psilver14.jpg I was going to replace this, but I've now de-rusted the blacksmith-made metal bands at each end - and I think it's part of the character...

    Cheers, Vann.
    Last edited by Vann; 14th May 2015 at 11:39 AM. Reason: Handle length dimension corrected
    Gatherer of rusty planes tools...
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  6. #5
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    Default Auto-feed

    Moving now to the self-feed or auto-feed - I remember this post from another thread...
    Quote Originally Posted by jhovel
    I managed to 'improve' the feed mechanism to actually feed between one and three ratchet teeth instead of just one.
    That required shaping and fitting a strip of metal to the feed cam follower, which previously had about 1/2" clearance to the cam. I happened to have a strip of phosphor bronze about 8mm thick to use and filed and polished with emery cloth the 'as cast' cam surface.... works nicely now.
    So first to return the pawl to this post drill (it lives on my Canadian Blower & Forge No.61, which is my working drill in my woodworking area). It's only bolted as I will almost certainly want to remove it again.

    Dawn pawl.jpg

    Cranking the drill I get two ratchet teeth (max.) per revolution. I guess the tolerances on mine were better than jhovels. I prepared a number of strips of wood ranging in thickness from 4mm to 9mm (jhovel used an 8mm packer), and taped the thinnest one to the auto-feed lever. I now was achieving 3 1/2 notches per revolution, so figured I wouldn't need to try anything thicker.
    The the cam follower is 1/2" wide, and the swept area ~1 1/2" long (see the two marker pen strokes on the packer).

    Dawn packer.jpg

    I found a piece of 1" x 1/8" brass I'd stuffed up on another project. I cut and filed it down to 1/2" wide. I intend to leave ~ 1/2" extra at each end for bolts to fix it to the auto-feed lever.

    Dawn brass.jpg Dawn brass2.jpg brass packer - a little over-length at present, but that will get cut back in due course

    Looking through my motley collection of taps, I have a 1/8" BSW tap, but I can't source any small BSW set screws, and don't have the skills to make them. I also have a set of M4 taps including a bottoming tap, so I'll probably run with them (though I dislike using metric threads on a machine of this age). I guess I could drill right through the auto-feed lever and pein some brass rod to hold it - but I won't.

    I hope the brass, being 3.175mm thick (vrs the 4mm thick packer I experimented with), will be thick enough to get three teeth per rev. I'll have to try it in the morning.

    Cheers for now, Vann.

    edit: Yup, the 1/8" brass packer is thick enough to still easily get three ratchet teeth per revolution .
    Last edited by Vann; 4th June 2015 at 10:14 AM. Reason: It's morning and I've checked out the packer
    Gatherer of rusty planes tools...
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  7. #6
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    Just epoxy it on and see if it holds long term and your happy with it. Nothing that can't be restored back to original.
    …..Live a Quiet Life & Work with your Hands

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by DSEL74 View Post
    Just epoxy it on and see if it holds long term and your happy with it. Nothing that can't be restored back to original.
    Quite right. I like the idea of not drilling any holes into the original castings.

    So I worked out just where I wanted to locate the brass packer, and marked it.
    Daf1ML.jpg

    Then cleaned up the underside of the auto-feed lever, and cleaned and roughened the brass face.
    Daf2ML.jpg

    Glued (two pot epoxy resin), with tape to keep the packer in place until the glue set.
    Daf3ML.jpg I cleaned off most of the oozing glue after taking this pikkie.

    When the glue dried I filed the brass back flush with the cast iron.
    Daf4ML.jpg
    A posed photo, after the event, as my camera battery went flat

    Black etch primed.
    Daf5ML.jpg

    A coat of black enamel tomorrow, then I can re-assemble it next week.

    Cheers, Vann.
    Gatherer of rusty planes tools...
    Proud member of the Wadkin Blockhead Club .

  9. #8
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    Nice job, let us know how it works
    …..Live a Quiet Life & Work with your Hands

  10. #9
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    Vann

    I must say your posts inspired me to get myself a Dawn 611! Im leaving mine to look old and used, however have cleaned it up to it works properly.

    My question is with respect to the chuck, you often see people install another chuck into the existing one. I notice it's not a morse taper? What sort of chuck would they be installing in there ?

    I would appreciate any help you can provide.

    Cheers
    Stewart

  11. #10
    Boringgeoff is offline Try not to be late, but never be early.
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    Hi Stewart,
    While we're waiting for Vann's response here's what I use in my Tough PD. Its a three jaw chuck by Silex with a 1/2 inch shank that fits neatly in the chuck of the PD.
    I have found this set up most useful with a screwdriver bit in the chuck for putting down force on a recalcitrant screw.
    Cheers,
    Geoff.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  12. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by bunya pine View Post
    My question is with respect to the chuck, you often see people install another chuck into the existing one. I notice it's not a morse taper? What sort of chuck would they be installing in there ?
    Hi Stewart. Sorry for my slow reply, I'm away on holiday ATM with only occasional internet access.
    It's like Geoff says, the Dawn takes a 1/2" straight shank bit, with a flat. Having bought a number of post drills now, I've found some with Jacobs chucks (with straight shanks) and some with re-purposed breast drill chucks.

    Cheers, Vann.
    Gatherer of rusty planes tools...
    Proud member of the Wadkin Blockhead Club .

  13. #12
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    Thanks geoff and vann

    drum maker

  14. #13
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    This is what you want from one of my old catalogues .


    …..Live a Quiet Life & Work with your Hands

  15. #14
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    DSEL74

    looks awesome just need to find one now!

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